Gideon Algernon Mantell: …the freshwater origin of the Wealden series of the Cretaceous Period, and from them he brought to light and described the remarkable dinosaurian reptiles known as Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus, Pelorosaurus, and Regnosaurus. He also described the Triassic reptile Telerpeton elginense. Mantell’s major works include The Fossils of the South Downs, or

luxury: …a relatively large consumption of wealth for nonessential pleasures. There is, however, no absolute definition of luxury, for the conception is relative to both time and person. It is a commonplace of history that the luxuries of one generation may become the necessities of a later period; thus, no hard…

Aristophanes: Wealth: The last of Aristophanes’ plays to be performed in his lifetime, Wealth (388 bce; Greek Ploutos; also called “the second Wealth” to distinguish it from an earlier play, now lost, of the same title) is a somewhat moralizing work. It may have inaugurated the…

Andrew Carnegie: …his most famous article, “Wealth,” appearing in the June 1889 issue of the North American Review, outlined what came to be called the Gospel of Wealth. This doctrine held that a man who accumulates great wealth has a duty to use his surplus wealth for “the improvement of mankind”…

distribution of wealth and income, the way in which the wealth and income of a nation are divided among its population, or the way in which the wealth and income of the world are divided among nations. Such patterns of distribution are discerned and studied by various statistical means, all of

The Wealth of Nations, work by the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith, first published in 1776, that became a foundational study in the history of economics and the first formulation of a comprehensive system of political economy. Despite its renown as the first great work of political

The Wealth of Nations, work by the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith, first published in 1776, that became a foundational study in the history of economics and the first formulation of a comprehensive system of political economy. Despite its renown as the first great work of political

income tax: Ease of administration: …tax on spending) or a wealth tax (a tax on one’s worth—as opposed to a tax on one’s earnings). An income tax fails, however, to calculate the effects of inflation and timing issues in the measurement of income. Inflation erodes the real value of interest income and of deductions for…

distribution of wealth and income, the way in which the wealth and income of a nation are divided among its population, or the way in which the wealth and income of the world are divided among nations. Such patterns of distribution are discerned and studied by various statistical means, all of

lactation: Weaning and the cessation of lactation: There is no typical age at which human infants are weaned, for this varies from country to country and among the social classes of a nation. In India women in the higher socioeconomic groups tend to use artificial feeding,…

weapon, an instrument used in combat for the purpose of killing, injuring, or defeating an enemy. A weapon may be a shock weapon, held in the hands, such as the club, mace, or sword. It may also be a missile weapon, operated by muscle power (as with the javelin, sling, and bow and arrow),

weapon of mass destruction (WMD), weapon with the capacity to inflict death and destruction on such a massive scale and so indiscriminately that its very presence in the hands of a hostile power can be considered a grievous threat. Modern weapons of mass destruction are either nuclear, biological,

weapon: …variety of vehicles, often called weapon platforms. These have included such naval craft as the ship of the line, battleship, submarine, and aircraft carrier; aircraft such as the fighter, bomber, and helicopter; and ground vehicles such as the chariot and tank.

Freeman Dyson: …a number of books, including Weapons and Hope (1984), Origins of Life (1985), Infinite in All Directions (1988), Imagined Worlds (1998), and The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet (1999). Disturbing the Universe (1979) and the epistolary Maker of Patterns (2018) are autobiographies.

On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed some 160,000 amphibious and airborne troops in Normandy. Opposing the Normandy Invasion were some 50,000 German troops of greatly varying quality. The 716th Static Infantry Division was composed of Germans who were too old for regular military service and

Iraq: The UN embargo and oil-for-food program: …UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) to inspect and verify that Iraq was complying with the ban on WMD. By mid-1991, however, it was becoming clear that the embargo would very likely last longer than had been originally expected and that, in the meantime, the people of Iraq needed humanitarian aid. Thus,…

Hans Blix: …the executive chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Committee, an autonomous international organization based in Sweden.

weapons system, any integrated system, usually computerized, for the control and operation of weapons of a particular kind. Intercontinental ballistic missiles, long-range bombers, and antiballistic missiles are the weaponry of the strategic weapons system (q.v.). Guided missiles operating at

Charles Stark Draper: With the creation of the Weapons System Engineering Course in 1952, Draper institutionalized one mechanism for the development of a technological intelligentsia within the armed services and made the lab a centre for producing both guidance systems and the people to use them. Graduates of the program were among inertial…

wear, the removal of material from a solid surface as a result of mechanical action exerted by another solid. Wear chiefly occurs as a progressive loss of material resulting from the mechanical interaction of two sliding surfaces under load. Wear is such a universal phenomenon that rarely do two

Wear Valley, former district, administrative and historic county of Durham, northeastern England, in the northwestern part of the county. Lying mostly within a section of the Pennines, Wear Valley is predominantly a high, bleak limestone upland, 1,000 to 2,300 feet (305 to 700 metres) in elevation,

River Wear, river that rises near Wearhead in the county of Durham, England, and enters the North Sea at Sunderland. With headwaters in the Pennines, it flows through Weardale and once entered the sea in the vicinity of Hartlepool, but it was subsequently diverted northward. Durham city is built

tribological ceramics, ceramic materials that are resistant to friction and wear. They are employed in a variety of industrial and domestic applications, including mineral processing and metallurgy. This article surveys the principal tribological ceramic materials and their areas of application.

steel: Wear-resistant steels: Another group is the wear-resistant steels, made into wear plates for rock-processing machinery, crushers, and power shovels. These are austenitic steels that contain about 1.2 percent carbon and 12 percent manganese. The latter element is a strong austenizer; that is, it keeps steel…

James Napper Tandy: …in the Irish ballad “The Wearing of the Green”:

African American literature: Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen: …jazz and blues poetry in The Weary Blues (1926) and Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927). While McKay and Hughes embraced the rank and file of Black America and proudly identified themselves as Black poets, Cullen sought success through writing in traditional forms and employing a lyricism informed by the…

Emmett Kelly: …known for his role as Weary Willie, a mournful tramp dressed in tattered clothes and made up with a growth of beard and a bulbous nose.

comic strip: Europe: …well as Tom Browne’s tramps Weary Willie and Tired Tim. The latter strip was sponsored in 1896 by the publisher Alfred Harmsworth and was originally intended for the newly literate and semiliterate masses, but it developed into children’s fare.

weasel, any of various small carnivores with very elongated slender bodies. Most live in the Northern Hemisphere and belong to the genus Mustela, which in addition to weasels proper includes 17 species of ferrets and polecats as well as the mink and the ermine. Along with their tubelike bodies,

weather, state of the atmosphere at a particular place during a short period of time. It involves such atmospheric phenomena as temperature, humidity, precipitation (type and amount), air pressure, wind, and cloud cover. Weather differs from climate in that the latter includes the synthesis of

bomb cyclone, large midlatitude storm resulting from explosive cyclogenesis (or, informally, bombogenesis), a type of accelerated extratropical cyclone development in which surface pressure falls substantially over a 24-hour period. The precipitation associated with a bomb cyclone (or weather bomb)

weather bureau, agency established by many countries to observe and report the weather and to issue weather forecasts and warnings of weather and flood conditions affecting national safety, welfare, and the economy. In each country the national weather bureau strongly affects almost every citizen’s

Conon of Samos: …and Sicily, Conon compiled the parapegma, a calendar of meteorological forecasts and of the risings and settings of the stars. He settled in Alexandria, where he served as court astronomer to Ptolemy III Euergetes I (reigned 246–221). When Berenice II, the consort of Ptolemy III, dedicated her hair as an…

Ted Kooser: …World at a Time (1985), Weather Central (1994), and Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry (2003), which was written with Jim Harrison.

climate: Climate, humans, and human affairs: …were published under the title The Weather Conspiracy. In the late 1970s, Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs addressed these issues in a book by English diplomat and environmentalist Crispin Tickell titled Climatic Change and World Affairs. Tickell sounded a warning:

weather forecasting, the prediction of the weather through application of the principles of physics, supplemented by a variety of statistical and empirical techniques. In addition to predictions of atmospheric phenomena themselves, weather forecasting includes predictions of changes on Earth’s

Anatolian religion: Religions of the Hittites, Hattians, and Hurrians: …for a word) to indicate weather god, sun god, moon god, and so forth, it seems that the deity of each city was regarded by the Hittite theologians as a distinct personality. There are even special weather gods, such as the weather god of the lightning, the weather god of…

Martha Gellhorn: …and a collection of novellas, The Weather in Africa (1978).

Tim Flannery: With his international best seller The Weather Makers: The History & Future Impact of Climate Change (2005), Flannery became the most prominent of Australia’s scientists arguing for measures to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. (A companion volume, We Are the Weather Makers [2006], was written for younger readers.) The book clearly spelled…

weather map, any map or chart that shows the meteorological elements at a given time over an extended area. The earliest weather charts were made by collecting synchronous weather reports by mail. However, it was not until 1816 that German physicist Heinrich Wilhelm Brandes created the first

weather modification, the deliberate or the inadvertent alternation of atmospheric conditions by human activity, sufficient to modify the weather on local or regional scales. Humans have long sought to purposefully alter such atmospheric phenomena as clouds, rain, snow, hail, lightning,

Olafur Eliasson: …Modern in London, he exhibited The Weather Project, a 50-foot (15-metre) in diameter orb resembling a dark afternoon sun made of 200 yellow lamps, diffusing screen, fog, and mirrors. During its five-month installation, more than two million visitors basked in the sun’s artificial glow, interacting with the constructed environment as…

Wayne Shorter: …player Joe Zawinul together led Weather Report, a fusion band that explored an uncommon variety of sound colours. He returned frequently to the tenor saxophone and in later years led his own fusion music groups.

weather satellite, any of a class of Earth satellites designed to monitor meteorological conditions (see Earth

weather bureau, agency established by many countries to observe and report the weather and to issue weather forecasts and warnings of weather and flood conditions affecting national safety, welfare, and the economy. In each country the national weather bureau strongly affects almost every citizen’s

weather forecasting: Establishment of weather-station networks and services: Routine production of synoptic weather maps became possible after networks of stations were organized to take measurements and report them to some type of central observatory. As early as 1814, U.S. Army Medical Corps personnel were ordered to record weather data…

Andrew Bird: …of solo gigs, Bird recorded Weather Systems (2003) at his family’s rural Illinois farm. The album marked a turning point in his songwriting; the idiosyncratic pre-rock-and-roll touches were now filtered through a sound that owed more to contemporary folk and pop-rock music than his previous pastiche-driven work had. (He also,…

Weather Underground, militant group of young white Americans formed in 1969 that grew out of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The Weather Underground, originally known as Weatherman, evolved from the Third World Marxists, a faction within Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the major national

Weather Underground, militant group of young white Americans formed in 1969 that grew out of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The Weather Underground, originally known as Weatherman, evolved from the Third World Marxists, a faction within Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the major national

folk art: Specific folk categories: …(laundry beaters), molds, decorated eggs, weather vanes, decoys, powder horns, trade signs, scarecrows, and figureheads, to name a few. There are also significant objects categorized according to function; for example, animal gear represented by the woven harness of donkeys in Spain, carved and painted ox yokes and sheep collars, brass-studded…

weather forecasting: Predictive skills and procedures: Weather warnings are a special kind of short-range forecast; the protection of human life is the forecaster’s greatest challenge and source of pride. The first national weather forecasting service in the United States (the predecessor of the Weather Bureau) was in fact formed, in 1870,…

weather forecasting: Predictive skills and procedures: …the tornado or severe thunderstorm watch, which is the forecast prepared by the SELS forecaster, and the warning, which is usually released by a local observing facility. The watch may be issued when the skies are clear, and it usually covers a number of counties. It alerts the affected area…

Anatolian religion: Religions of the Hittites, Hattians, and Hurrians: …for a word) to indicate weather god, sun god, moon god, and so forth, it seems that the deity of each city was regarded by the Hittite theologians as a distinct personality. There are even special weather gods, such as the weather god of the lightning, the weather god of…

clapboard, type of board bevelled toward one edge, used to clad the exterior of a frame building. Clapboards are attached horizontally, each one overlapping the next one down. They are six to eight inches in width, diminishing from about a 58 inch thickness at the lower edge to a fine upper edge

rifle: 257 Weatherby—the name of the inventor of the rifle and the cartridge—is considerably more powerful than weapons with larger bore diameters such as the .30-30, because the Weatherby bullet travels faster.

weatherfish, any of certain fishes of the loach (q.v.)

Weatherford, city, seat of Parker county, north-central Texas, U.S. It lies some 30 miles (50 km) west of Fort Worth. It originated in 1855 as the county seat and was named for Jefferson Weatherford, a member of the Texas Senate. Indian raids hampered the growth of the city until the 1870s; in 1880

South Australia: Political characteristics: …as premier until 2011, when Jay Weatherill took over as party leader and premier. The Labor government made a big commitment to fostering the growth of renewable energy, and by 2014–15 it had already surpassed its 2020 target goal of providing 33 percent of energy production through renewable sources. The…

weathering, disintegration or alteration of rock in its natural or original position at or near the Earth’s surface through physical, chemical, and biological processes induced or modified by wind, water, and climate. During the weathering process the translocation of disintegrated or altered

industrial glass: Chemical properties: …extended humidity exposure (often called weathering). The relative “weatherabilities” of the major oxide glasses are indicated in the table of properties of oxide glasses. The weathering resistance of several commercial glasses is shown in Figure 6. In general, glasses that are low in alkali offer increased weathering resistance. Vitreous silica…

construction: Use of steel and other metals: …18 percent chromium) and so-called weathering steel, copper-bearing steel alloys that form an adherent oxide layer. The bronze curtain wall of Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building (1954–58) in New York City proved to be an isolated example. Probably of equal importance in curtain-wall construction was the development of cold-setting…

valley: Hillslopes: On weathering-limited slopes, transport processes are so efficient that debris is removed more quickly than it can be generated by further weathering. Such hillslopes develop a faceted or angular morphology in which an upper free face, or cliff, contributes debris to a lower slope of accumulation.…

Weather Underground, militant group of young white Americans formed in 1969 that grew out of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The Weather Underground, originally known as Weatherman, evolved from the Third World Marxists, a faction within Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the major national

construction: Heating and cooling systems: Carrier’s “Weathermaster” system was energy-intensive, appropriate to the declining energy costs of the time, and it was adopted for most of the all-glass skyscrapers that followed in the next 25 years. In the 1960s the so-called dual-duct system appeared; both warm and cold air were centrally…

Deaths in 2024: February:

Joy Harjo: Poetry and other writing: In 2022 Harjo published Weav­ing Sun­down in a Scar­let Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years.

textile: Woven fabrics: …conveys a composer’s ideas, so weave drafts or point paper plans communicate a textile designer’s directions for constructing woven fabrics. The draft is a plan on graph paper showing at least one repeat or weave unit of the fabric to be woven. This information enables the weaver or mill specialist…

weaver, any of a number of small finchlike birds of the Old World, or any of several related birds that are noted for their nest-building techniques using grass stems and other plant fibres. They are particularly well-known for their roofed nests, which in some African species form complex, hanging

weaver ant, (genus Oecophylla), genus of two species of arboreal ants easily recognized by their intricate nests of woven leaves and hailed as one of the pinnacles of ant social evolution. The African weaver ant (Oecophylla longinoda) is found in tropical forested areas of Africa, and the range of

canals and inland waterways: Lock gates: On the Weaver Navigations Canal in England the hydraulic power for operating the lock gates has been derived for 100 years from the 3-metre (10-foot) head difference between the pounds.

knot: The sheet bend, or weaver’s knot, is widely used by sailors for uniting two ropes of different sizes. The end of one rope is passed through a loop of the other, is passed around the loop, and under its own standing part. An ordinary fishnet is…

Black Sox Scandal: …Charles (“Swede”) Risberg, third baseman George (“Buck”) Weaver, outfielders Joe (“Shoeless Joe”) Jackson and Oscar (“Happy”) Felsch, and utility infielder Fred McMullin. Court records suggest that the eight players received $70,000 to $100,000 for losing five games to three.

Earl Weaver was an American professional baseball player and manager whose career managerial record of 1,480 wins and 1,060 losses is one of the best in major league history. Weaver managed the Baltimore Orioles for 17 seasons (1968–82; 1985–86), leading them to four American League (AL)

Earl Weaver was an American professional baseball player and manager whose career managerial record of 1,480 wins and 1,060 losses is one of the best in major league history. Weaver managed the Baltimore Orioles for 17 seasons (1968–82; 1985–86), leading them to four American League (AL)

Black Sox Scandal: …Charles (“Swede”) Risberg, third baseman George (“Buck”) Weaver, outfielders Joe (“Shoeless Joe”) Jackson and Oscar (“Happy”) Felsch, and utility infielder Fred McMullin. Court records suggest that the eight players received $70,000 to $100,000 for losing five games to three.

James Joyce: Early travels and works: …a series of grants from Harriet Shaw Weaver, editor of the Egoist magazine, which by 1930 had amounted to more than £23,000. Weaver’s generosity resulted partly from her admiration for his work and partly from her sympathy with his difficulties, for, as well as poverty, Joyce had to contend with…

James B. Weaver was an American politician who leaned toward agrarian radicalism; he twice ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. presidency, as the Greenback-Labor candidate (1880) and as the Populist candidate (1892). Admitted to the bar in 1856, Weaver practiced law in Bloomfield, Iowa, and entered

James B. Weaver was an American politician who leaned toward agrarian radicalism; he twice ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. presidency, as the Greenback-Labor candidate (1880) and as the Populist candidate (1892). Admitted to the bar in 1856, Weaver practiced law in Bloomfield, Iowa, and entered

John Weaver was a dancer, ballet master, choreographer, and theorist known as the father of English pantomime. Like his father, a dance teacher at Shrewsbury, Weaver began his career as a dance master in the town. In 1700 he went to London, where he became a specialist in comic roles. In his

Ruby Ridge: …standoff with self-proclaimed white separatist Randy Weaver, his family, and a friend named Kevin Harris in an isolated cabin in Boundary county, Idaho. Weaver’s wife, Vicki, his 14-year-old son, Sammy, and U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed during the siege.

agrarianism: Agrarianism since the mid-20th century: …as the American conservative philosopher Richard Weaver and the farmer, essayist, and environmental activist Wendell Berry, who consistently defended the small farm against agribusiness and urban development.

River Weaver, river rising on the boundary between the counties of Shropshire and Cheshire, England, and then flowing 45 miles (72 km) north to reach the Irish Sea estuary of the River Mersey to the west of Runcorn. In its upper reaches it passes through dairy farming country, but major industrial

Robert C. Weaver was a noted American economist who, as the first secretary (1966–68) of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was the first African American appointed to a cabinet position in the U.S. government. Weaver, the great-grandson of a slave, was educated (B.S., 1929;

Robert C. Weaver was a noted American economist who, as the first secretary (1966–68) of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was the first African American appointed to a cabinet position in the U.S. government. Weaver, the great-grandson of a slave, was educated (B.S., 1929;

Sigourney Weaver is an American actress who has played an eclectic range of characters but is perhaps best known for her portrayals of strong independent women, notably Ellen Ripley, the no-nonsense resourceful heroine in the landmark science-fiction film Alien (1979) and its sequels. Weaver was

Sigourney Weaver is an American actress who has played an eclectic range of characters but is perhaps best known for her portrayals of strong independent women, notably Ellen Ripley, the no-nonsense resourceful heroine in the landmark science-fiction film Alien (1979) and its sequels. Weaver was

Warren Weaver was an American mathematician. He studied at the University of Wisconsin, taught there (1920–32), and directed the Rockefeller Foundation’s Natural Science Division (1932–55). He is considered the first person to propose using electronic computers for the translation of natural

weaver-finch, any of numerous songbirds belonging to the family Estrildidae (order Passeriformes), individually called grass finch, mannikin, and waxbill (qq.v.). They are finchlike Old World birds. Most of the 107 species are small or tiny seed-eaters with short conical bills. They occur in flocks

weaver, any of a number of small finchlike birds of the Old World, or any of several related birds that are noted for their nest-building techniques using grass stems and other plant fibres. They are particularly well-known for their roofed nests, which in some African species form complex, hanging

the Weavers, seminal American folksinging group of the late 1940s and ’50s that played a significant role in sparking the American folk music revival. In 1948 Lee Hays and guitarist-banjoist Pete Seeger, both of whom previously had performed with Woody Guthrie in the Almanac Singers, recruited

The Weavers, naturalistic drama in five acts by Gerhart Hauptmann, published in 1892 and performed in 1893 as Die Weber. The play is based on the revolt of the Silesian weavers of 1844 and portrays in a starkly realistic manner the human cost of the Industrial Revolution. The work reveals how,

weaving, production of fabric by interlacing two sets of yarns so that they cross each other, normally at right angles, usually accomplished with a hand- or power-operated loom. A brief treatment of weaving follows. For further discussion, see textile: Production of fabric. In weaving, lengthwise

spider: …instead weave silk snares, or webs, to capture prey. Webs are instinctively constructed and effectively trap flying insects. Many spiders inject venom into their prey to kill it quickly, whereas others first use silk wrappings to immobilize their victims.

Web 2.0, term devised to differentiate the post-dotcom bubble World Wide Web with its emphasis on social networking, content generated by users, and cloud computing from that which came before. The 2.0 appellation is used in analogy with common computer software naming conventions to indicate a

Semantic Web, extension of the World Wide Web (WWW) in which data are given meaning (semantics) to enable computers to look up and “reason” in response to user searches. One of the strongest proponents of the Semantic Web is Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British inventor of the WWW and the director of

URL, compact string of numbers, letters, and symbols that a computer uses to find a resource on a network and act upon it. URLs are often colloquially referred to as Web addresses, or simply addresses, since Web pages are the most common resources that users employ URLs to find. However, all files

The Web and the Rock, novel by Thomas Wolfe, published posthumously in 1939 after being reworked by editor Edward Aswell from a larger manuscript. Like Wolfe’s other novels, The Web and the Rock is an autobiographical account of a successful young writer from North Carolina living in New York City

Web application, computer program stored on a remote server and run by its users via a Web browser. A Web application is an advantageous form of software because the use of browsers allows the application to be compatible with most standard computers and operating systems. Moreover, the application

browser, software that allows a computer user to find and view information on the Internet. Web browsers interpret the HTML tags in downloaded documents and format the displayed data according to a set of standard style rules. When British scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, he

computer: Internet and collaborative software: …Web search engines and “Web-crawling” programs that traverse the Web to gather and classify information. Web-crawling programs are a kind of agent software, a term for programs that carry out routine tasks for a user. They stem from artificial intelligence research and carry out some of the tasks of…